The Sign of the Cross in Slavic Lands

[Zielinski]

> > Perhaps the best known semiotization of the cross is “the sign of the
> > cross” specifically as a gesture: one raises one’s right hand to
> > forehead, chest, and then to each shoulder (crossing from left to
> > right), while simultaneously saying “In the name of the Father, the
> > Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.” One’s whole upper body momentarily
> > takes on the shape of the cross. For many of us this was the first
> > prayer we ever learned. In different cultures this gestural prayer
> > takes different forms. According to early ecclesiastical writers
> > Tertullian and Origen, already in the third century Christians were
> > tracing the sign of the cross on their foreheads in a gusture which
> > signified their dedication to Christ during various daily activities,
> > such as rising in the morning and going to bed at night.[i] <#_edn1>
> > Among Eastern Orthodox Christians in Greece, Russia, Serbia, Bulgaria,
> > and other places, the sign of the cross is made with the second point
> > of contact being the abdomen rather than the chest, and the cross
> > stroke moves from right to left rather than left to right. At the
> > shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupé near Mexico City I observed the
> > Western-style sign of the cross being made with an added cruciform
> > motion of the hand at each point of contact – head, chest, left
> > shoulder, right shoulder.

There is a disctinction between the big and the small sign of the cross in
the catholic church. The big one is more or less what you describe at the
beginning, meaning the confession, that only in the cross of Christ we look
for salvation; the small one is a sign of cross on forehead, on mouth and on
heart, meaning  the readiness to understand, to preach and to realise the
word of God in your life. What you have seen in Mexico seems to be a
combination of both forms of the rite.

Hope that helps,

Jan Zielinski

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